Uber is taking a big step towards making its vision of flying vehicles a reality, announcing on Wednesday an agreement with NASA to develop a fleet of air taxis by 2020.

While the ride-hailing service and the U.S. space agency may seem like an odd couple, the relationship is necessary in order to keep everything running smoothly when Uber ultimately takes to the skies.

"The space act that we signed with NASA is initially about collaboration around air traffic management," Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer, told NBC News. With so many aerial vehicles flying at a low attitude, the collaboration will be necessary to help manage the skies.

Uber also announced that Los Angeles will be the second U.S. city where it will test its uberAIR service. Dallas-Fort Worth is the first U.S. launch partner, while Dubai will be the first global city.

Holden said he expects Uber will have its first flight demonstrations in 2020 and have the service commercially available by 2023. That's well ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where the service could be especially useful as an already congested city prepares to host athletes and fans from around the world.

Uber's air travel initiative was announced last October with the promise of putting an end to long commutes, letting passengers hail an aircraft ride with the push of a button. In the case of Los Angeles, Uber has 20 strategically placed locations around the city for the Uber network.

The idea is to build a network of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that would greatly reduce commutes, while also helping to ease vehicle pollution in major cities.

In a video released Wednesday by Uber, the company showed what it will be like to order a seat on one of the aircraft, which will take off and land vertically.

"It's an inspirational way to travel, too," said Holden. "You push a button, fly over the city, and you land. No volatility."

And have you seen this crazy contraption the Volocopter? The first 2 passenger Volocopter flew last year and it's being considered for air taxi projects to come very soon. Basically a Volocopter os just an electric drone. I don't think Uber will use this one in particular as they just announced a development programme with NASA (see my last post)

Static firing of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy two days ago... ahead of a launch scheduled for Frebruary 6. Controlling 27 engines simultaneosuly is always a bit tricky. That was one of the reasons why the Russian "Moon Shot" never happened... If they succeed, Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful rocket in operation... at least until NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) high capacity vehicle becomes a reality.

The Soviet N-1 didn't have modern silicon pixie-aetherwave controller technology. And signs suggest SLS schedule will continue to slip until eventual cancellation.

Shame, really. We're not very serious about having a national space program, whereas a few visionaries like Musk are left to carry the basket. Not complaining, I think he's doing a great job, and given that he's one a single few who are trying, I guess I'll forgive him the eccentricity of launching his cherry red Tesla coupe past Mars.

I do envy the Indian space programme, though. My whole adult existence was based on the never materialised promise of working on something similar to the Space Shuttle.

The cat's out of the bag on the destiny of the Tesla roadster. If I understand correctly (correct me if I'm wrong or missed something or I read something wrong) the Tesla, now christened "Starman," will traverse an orbit past the sun to an apogee that nearly matches the farthest distance from the Earth to Mars (400 million Km). The implication is that the Tesla roadster will be captured by the Sun's gravity (hyperbolic orbit during slingshot, then elliptical again toward Mars)*, and attain a highly elliptical orbit that will interesect all the inner planet's near-circular orbits, while playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (in the vaccum if space, so no one will hear it ). So there is a microscopic chance of colliding with any of the inner planets in the very distant future or burning in Earth's atmosphere. But most likely it is now just another, very odd and queer metal, plastic and rubber meteor.

*Edit: Big correction here. They released the orbital path. The Sun is nowhere close to being between Mars and Earth, so the Starman was actually launched directly toward Mars but not close enough to Mars and way too fast to get captured by Mars. Instead the Sun's stronger gravity will determine its fate. Still that is way more energy than I anticipated in the upper stage.

Because the Starman was travelling so much faster than I thought, the orbit is a lot less eccentric than I anticipated. While still eccentric, the orbit is a much "fatter" orbit that does not need a "slingshot" past any celestial body, and instead only allows the Sun to capture the Starman away from Earth's (and Mars') gravitational pull.

I was not expecting that. The orbit has so much energy (Starman 's speed) that its orbit does not even intersect the orbits of Venus and Mercury, it just lies outside their orbits, going around them altogether. That is one hell of a shot.

PS I wonder what happened to that wheel of cheese aboard the Dragon/Falcon 9 in 2010... did they serve it at the party?

Apparently there is a third (upper stage) still attached to the Tesla ("Starman") . The idea is to do a final burn to aim for Mars. Some interesting live video from the 3 cameras. A mannequin dressed in a space suit is sitting in the driver's seat. This is your chance to make a memorable screen saver. I just did mine :

I'm glad the launch went well - if any 'visitors' manage to snag that car, they are going to wonder what the hell happened!Love the "Don't Panic" touch in the roadster!

Well, for one, they'd wonder why people on Earth are so stiff Watching the Live feed now, I'm waiting for the second biurn. I think I see some liquid drops coming out of the left front hand side of the car...